Originally posted by the Voice of America.
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Nigeria Steps Up Vaccination Efforts After Slow Rollout Blamed on
Misinformation

Timothy Obiezu

   ABUJA, NIGERIA - Nigerian authorities are stepping up efforts to
   vaccinate more people against COVID-19 after a slow rollout blamed on
   misinformation. Authorities aim to vaccinate over 80 million Nigerians
   by year's end but are running far behind schedule.
   An Abuja vaccination center,which opened March 16, one week after
   Nigeria's official vaccine rollout, vaccinates between 50and100 people
   daily.

   It is one of manyvaccination locationsin the Nigerian capital.

   Abuja residentOlu Agunbiade visited the center to get his firstshotand
   says receiving the vaccine makes him feel safer.

   "I can venture out into the world with a form of protection," he told
   VOA. "I know that doesn't mean I can't still contract COVID, but at
   least I have antibodies, I can fight it."

   Nigeria received about4million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine early
   last month.

   Authorities say they will vaccine around 80 million people by the end
   of the year, but so far, only about1million have receivedshots.

   Although authorities say more Nigerians are now getting vaccinated,
   Abuja Primary Healthcare BoardExecutive SecretaryNdeyoIwotsays vaccine
   hesitancy and misinformation about the coronavirus are to blame for the
   low numbers.

   "There's a very big problem. Now start from the beginning, how many
   people even believed that we have the pandemic here? And now you want
   to bring vaccine for what they did not believe in the first instance?
   We have a lot of work to do," Iwot says.
   Dr Ngong Cyprian receives his first dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca
   coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine from Dr Faisal Shuaib, Executive
   Director and Chief Executive Officer of the National Primary Health
   Care Development Agency, in Abuja.

   As workaround, authorities are trying to increase vaccine awareness in
   communities, villages, and marketplaces.

   Despite this,though,citizens like Richard Uka insist they will not get
   the vaccine.

   "To be sincere, I don't think this isnecessary,to me it's not
   necessary," Uka told VOA. "And I believe that in Nigeria nothing works.
   How do you think that that vaccine works or how do we know that it
   works?"

   Nigeria needs to vaccinate about 150 million citizens by next year to
   attain herd immunity.

   Iwot, though,says getting adequate doses of vaccines may prove
   difficult.

   "Looking at the pandemic situation in Europe, India and the U.S.A.and
   the U.K., some of them are experiencing thethird andfourth spikes now
   and India that was giving us is also having spikes now. So many of the
   dosages they have will be consumed there," Iwot told VOA.

   Very few African countriesare able tomanufacture the coronavirus
   vaccines, creating heavy dependence on foreign manufacturers.

   The World Health Organization says the continent has so far received
   less than2%of the global 690 million doses of the coronavirus vaccines.

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